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fatilightwood · 3 years

Text

Our story

You can read it on Ao3

Chapter 2

Chapter 3: The date

Thomas kept glancing at his phone, the hours didn’t seem to passing fast enough. It was still early to meet Alastair, still he didn’t want to mess things up by losing himself in the book in his hands and arriving late.

Almost an hour later, Thomas decided it was time to go. He took his belongings and got out of the library. As he strode out of his campus he couldn’t help but felling nervous and excited.

He arrived at the bar and saw there was no trace of Alastair. He stood there watching the students walk, and it occurred to him that it was funny how sometimes you could tell what they were studying. That made him thought what was Alastair studying? Maybe if he knew it would have been easier to walk to his faculty and wait for him.

Thomas checked the time on his phone. Then distracted himself reading some announcements of his classes. When he was done he returned the phone to his pocket. And then he saw him, Alastair was meters away from him. He walked so elegantly. Wow. Where the hell did that come from? He had never thought that a person could walk elegantly. Still, it was true for Alastair.

Thomas waved his hand when Alastair’s eyes rested on him. He smiled. And Thomas felt himself smile too.

“Hi.” Thomas said.

“Hey.”

Then they stood there in silence for a few seconds.

“Shall we go?”

“Lead the way.”

Thomas started to walk. Alastair was at his side.

“It’s really close, you know. One of my friends took me there sometime and I really liked the place. Hope you will too.”

“Do they have donuts?”

“Yeah.”

“Good, I’m craving donuts. You’ve earned a point but you need a lot of those for me to tell you that you’ve got excellent taste in coffeehouses.”

“I think I do. Just think, cozy place, lots and lots of coffee, tea, desserts, smoothies, crepes, ice cream. Oh, and muffins.” Alastair watched him to get more and more excited as he talked.

“Okay, okay, you’re in the right way. I just need to see this for myself.”

When they arrived Alastair stopped and stared at the beautiful coffeehouse. The place had a beautiful double glass door. Green pastry walls were surrounding it. He could see people sitting and chatting animatedly. Thomas pushed the door open and let Alastair enter first. He thanked him as he walked in. There were cushions that looked extremely comfortable, chairs, and even puffs. All of them were also green.

“Come here.”

Thomas guided him to the back of the store. “Let’s go upstairs”

They were floating, Alastair thought. Then laughed internally. They weren’t floating but it certainly felt that way. They were standing on a hanging wood platform. He liked how he could watch people outside the coffeehouse through the glass door, and the other clients when they came in. It was crazy to think that a tiny stair could lead them there. So much crazier to think that only a piece of wood held them. Oh God, Alastair said to himself, I hope we don’t die on our first date.

Easy, Alastair, he told himself. First, this date, then we’ll see what happens next. But he was distracted from his thoughts when he saw that Thomas couldn’t stand properly, he had to bend down so he wouldn’t touch the ceiling. Alastair couldn’t help but smile and he took a seat on the nearest table. Alastair hoped the other table there wouldn’t be occupied. Even though they were in a public space and he wouldn’t be uncomfortable with people in the other table he loved when he felt like he had all the space to himself. Thomas sat in front of him.

“So, how is my evaluation going?”

“This is really good, but if we fall you’ll get an F.” Alastair said, grinning.

“Mm, are you calling me heavy?” Thomas said, amused.

��Well, you certainly are gigantic. You can’t even stand up without touching the ceiling.”

Thomas blushed. He was used to the jokes but somehow now it felt different. He wasn’t sure why. Was it because he just met Alastair or because he had said it with admiration? But in the moment Alastair smiled and shrugged, his heart skipped a beat and he knew immediately they were both.

He also knew he wanted to erase the first. He needed to know more of Alastair.

“So, about your notes, how did that end? And, what are you studying? I don’t even know what the notes are about.”

“I obviously finished them. And I must say it’s—” Alastair cut himself off. The waitress came with their menus.

They both said thanks and when she left Alastair took a notebook out of his backpack.

“As I was saying, it’s really offensive,” he said, feigning hurt. “But you’ll be the judge. Oh, and I study art history.”

Thomas took the notebook and began looking at the pages. Alastair’s handwriting was pretty. History and theory of European art, said in the first page. Thomas was impressed. He had always liked art, but now that he met an actual student of art history he thought he was in a disadvantage. Surely Alastair liked art so much more and also knew more about it.

He reached the final notes and saw something about architecture from the French Revolution. And at the beginning of the penultimate page he found a few messy words. They contrasted so much with the neat handwriting that started in the next line. Thomas signaled those words to Alastair.

“Yeah, that was when I was falling asleep. So I decided to stop writing.”

Thomas smiled. “You didn’t tell me that you almost fell asleep in class.”

“Sh.” Alastair said, as if Thomas were telling a big secret. “It wasn’t relevant.”

“It would be fun to watch, though.”

“We’ve been here for less than ten minutes, I haven’t ordered and you’re already making fun of me.” He said laughing. “And I don’t think the professor would think so.”

“Oh, that happened in one of my classes just like two weeks ago, fortunately the professor is actually cool, so he didn’t scold him. And, you should check the menu, trust me, there’s a lot of options.”

Alastair stared at his menu, impressed. There were even more options that the ones Thomas had said.

“Don’t look so smug, Thomas.”

“I’m not doing anything.” He said innocently.

“Whatever.”

Thomas barely contained the smirk on his lips.

When the waitress came Thomas asked for a croissant and an iced tea. Alastair told him that carrot cakes were his favorites so he wanted to taste one, he also asked for a coffee, and a donut. When the waitress came with their orders, Alastair took the sugar from the table and poured at least 3 spoons into his cup.

“Yeah, I don’t like when my coffee resembles my soul.” Alastair said when he saw the fun look Thomas was giving him.

“Oh, God, yours must be so dark.”

“Don’t worry, it’s been getting lighter and lighter.” Alastair said, winking.

They talked about nothing and everything. Thomas told him he was studying psychology, he also told him that he thought many problems could be solved if only all people would care about their mental health as much as they care for other things. He told him he has known his friends since they were very young and that he loved reading but in the past few months he hadn’t been able to read as much as he would’ve liked. Alastair told him it was understandable and that it was a matter of time to be able to do everything you wanted, or at least, most of the things you wanted. It happened to almost everyone at the beginning of college. He also told him he played the piano, that he had always loved art and found interesting the evolution of it and the role it had across the time, that he also liked to draw from time to time but wasn’t very good at it and that he lived with his little sister.

They also told each other their last names, laughing when they realized they had talked and talked and just knew their names. It was so easy. Thomas thought he was going to be a nervous mess. Unfortunately, a few minutes later he thought he was initially right, because his calmness didn’t last much longer. When Thomas told Alastair he wanted to get a tattoo, he ran his fingers through the skin in his forearm.

“Would it be big? Or is it going to be something tiny?”

Thomas didn’t answer immediately. He only had thoughts about the soft fingers on his skin and the shiver they were leaving behind. Alastair retired his hand, he closed his fist as if saving the memory.

“Oh, something in the middle, I think.” He said quietly. “I don’t think it will cover my entire forearm, but I also don’t want it to be tiny.”

“So, no one could catch Thomas Lightwood with a half inch umbrella tattoo in his wrist?” He joked.

Thomas tapped his finger against his chin, as if thinking.

“Nope. Maybe with an arrow, though.”

Alastair smiled. “I never thought about getting a tattoo but I think if I would, I’d get one of those, so I could say that I have a tattoo.”

They laughed, and continued talking. And too soon for their liking it was getting dark. They paid and said goodbye to the owners.

Alastair stopped himself from inviting Thomas to his apartment. It was rushed, he knew, they just had a first date, why would he make things awkward? But he also knew he had thought about it because he’d like to continue talking to him. And really, there was another reason why it wasn’t a good idea, he had things to do at home and he made sure to tell Thomas that casually, just in case Thomas wanted to make the same suggestion. Would Tom want to invite him to his apartment? He didn’t know. What Alastair did know was he liked it when Thomas offered to accompany him to the bus stop when he said that though his apartment was close didn’t want to walk.

When Alastair’s bus came, he stood on his tiptoes and kissed Thomas goodbye on the cheek. Thomas stood there, speechless, and only recovered the capacity to move when he saw Alastair seated. Thomas waved at him, and saw the other boy smile.

Then the bus began to move, and Alastair gave him a last glance. When Thomas couldn’t see the bus anymore he started to walk to his own apartment.

Alastair laid his head on the glass. His mind was racing. He knew he should stop but it wasn’t easy, the thoughts just kept coming. Even if he had invited Thomas, what was he going to do in the apartment? To watch him study? And do his assignments? Alastair wasn’t sure why he hadn’t invited Thomas to his apartment, perhaps it was a combination of everything, even Ariadne’s worry about Thomas being a serial killer. Alastair grinned a little. He wasn’t a serial killer, he knew that. What he didn’t know was if Thomas Lightwood would break his heart.

Chapter 4

#thomastair #alastair carstairs #thomas lightwood #tlh #modern setting

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theonyxpath · 6 years

Link

Let’s start serious and move towards our yearly Thanks blog at the end.

I’ve heard from a lot of you asking if the recent messages that White Wolf have posted on their social media are something that will be bad for Onyx Path. As of this writing, everything we’ve heard from over there is that it’s business as usual between our companies. We are still going to be sending projects over for approvals, they are still the ones who OK our pitches for new WW-IP projects, and we’re still running our successful Chicago By Night KS, the first licensed V5 TTRPG supplement.

So fear not, True Believers!

I mean, I just had to channel Stan Lee there, after last week’s MMN blog.

Which was, oddly enough, the least commented-on blog I think I’ve ever posted. Very strange, but I’m just assuming you were all in mourning for Stan, too.

In case you missed it last week, here is the lovely graphic our own Impish Ian Watson made to show what game lines are wholly Onyx Path‘s, the ones at the top, and which are licensed from whom:

I actually didn’t think we’d need it again so soon, but there does seem to be a fair bit of confusion out there, so feel free to point to this if you need to explain things to a friend.

And that’s one of the awesome Chicago By Night full-page pieces up there at the top, illustrated by the amazing Michael Gaydos. More Chicago Kickstarter news – we’re headed into the last week! – down below in The Blurbs!

Trinity Continuum: Aeon art by Sam White

A bit of related news:

One of the first times I ever heard of Matthew Dawkins, who is our Chicago By Night developer, was when he interviewed me for his YouTube channel a whole bunch of years ago. From then, his Gentlemam Gamer videos have taken deep dives into many of the White Wolf (and other) games, and were very helpful in explaining aspects of V5 during this last year.

Now, Matthew has agreed to create a series of Gentleman Gamer videos for our Onyx Path games starting with the pantheons in Scion 2nd Edition, and you’ll also be seeing Matthew in other ways too, as he helps ramp up our online gaming presence. More on that in the weeks to come!

BUT DON’T WORRY, his dulcet tones are still going to be appearing weekly on the Onyx Pathcast – which this coming Friday features Dixie interviewing Jacqueline “Jax” Bryk with a one-on-one covering not just her work with us, but throughout the TTRPG biz, and how she has become one of our industries leading lights for safe play game writing.

Trinity Continuum: Aeon art by Marco Gozales

And now, the thanks!

Let’s start with the newest member of our Monday Meeting team, Dixie Cochran:

I am thankful that the whole Onyx Path team gave me the opportunity to work on these books in a greater capacity this year. I am thankful that Eddy, Matthew, and Rich are always supportive and willing to answer my many questions, and that Rose Bailey recommended me for this job as she moved on to a new stage in her career. I am thankful for all of my amazing Chronicles of Darkness and Exalted developers, writers, and fans, who continue to do amazing work and be a wonderful community. I am also thankful for lovely editors and indexers, Word’s “track changes” function, and Oxford commas.

From the art and layout side of things, there are these points from Mirthful Mike Chaney, in no particular order he tells me:

Thankful our first Storypath IPs are really close to being done and ready to release.

Thankful our non WW stuff has been continually well received…

Thankful that Wraith 20 is almost done… and Scion…

Thankful my wife is still as into 40k as I am… now if I could only get her into D&D 5e.

Thankful that the midterms weren’t an utter shitshow.

Thankful that I still get to work with all of you and still get to make game books after all these years.

Our marketing guru and developer/writer extraordinaire Monica Valentinelli shares these thoughts:

I’d like to thank fans for their continued support and enthusiasm. People are really excited for the games we make, and that’s the reason why I do what I do.

Here’s Eddy Webb, with his thanks:

I continue to be thankful for all of the fans of Realms of Pugmire.

I am thankful that Monarchies of Mau is shipping (and ahead of schedule!)

I am thankful to find so many people who are really excited about our upcoming Storypath games like Scion, Trinity Continuum, They Came From Beneath The Sea!, and Dystopia Rising: Evolution.

And I am thankful that there are still people who love and support Onyx Path Publishing.

Mighty Matt McElroy takes a long sip of coffee and sez:

I want thank everyone who has had the time and energy to introduce an Onyx Path game to someone new. Whether that is inviting someone to join your gaming group or running a demo at a convention, this past year has been an amazing opportunity to meet new gamers around the world.

Our behind-the-scenes keeper of the flame, LisaT has these thanks to share with all of you:

I am thankful again this year for the opportunity to work with so many talented and creative people. And this year I had the opportunity to meet a number of them face to face along with many fans of our products. I’m looking forward to meeting even more of you at PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia in just a couple of weeks. So if you’re in town stop by and become part of what I’m thankful for for next year!

Impish Ian Watson, lord of Bloodlines modding, also does some other stuff he has thanks about:

I’m thankful that, after years toiling in the word mines, the Trinity Continuum and Æon are almost done, and we’ve done a significant chunk of the next two supplements, plus Aberrant. I can’t wait for people to see the fruits of our labours.

I’m thankful to Trinity‘s Kickstarter backers for having faith in us.

Let’s see what sort of thanks Mr. Dawkins has to share:

Yo Gentlemaniacs, it’s Thanksgiving night, and this is the happiest time of year for all the maniacs, brother! You know, me and all my little Gentsters, we got a lot of things to be thankful for. Number one: we’re thankful for being happy and very healthy. We’re thankful for having time to share with our loved ones. We’re also thankful that Gentlemania is still the strongest force in the universe. And after the turkey’s done, after the blessings are all done, I can tell you what the Gentleman is mostly happy about: it’s SURVIVOR SERIES TIME! And I’m thankful for my team of Gentlemaniacs!!

That, and Onyx Path are pretty cool.

Uhhhhh. He may be cracking under the pressure. Hard to say.

From me:

I sometimes sit at my desk, stunned by the realization that I still get to do this after all these years and I’m thankful for that – a lot! Thanks to our creative freelancers who continue to find delightful new ways to verbally and visually describe our game worlds, and our full-time folks who orchestrate all this rampant creativity into the formats and pages that we all love to read and play. Thanks to all of our associated partner companies that give us the reach to deliver and communicate this thing we do to all of you!

Which, of course, actually brings me to all of you and all of our community who have supported us through our growing pains, lo! these many years, and even through pains not of our choosing! Without this intricate eco-system that includes all of us and all of you, we just would not have been able to keep building all our game lines and worlds!

Thank you.

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER:

Lo the darkness that lies like a pall over Chicago.

The V5 Chicago By Night Kickstarter has passed 200% funding and continues to knock through Stretch Goals like the El through a sleet storm! Congrats to the whole team and all our backers, as we continue to build the Chicago Folio with Cam, Anarchs, and Independent sections and the Let The Streets Run Red Chronicle Collection, as well as activate additional projects too!

We’d be thrilled if you’d give it a look here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/chicago-by-night-for-vampire-the-masquerade-5th-ed/description

And here is a Q&A Matthew and several of his writing team held on his Gentleman Gamer YouTube channel that goes into a lot of their thinking about Chicago By Night and then they answer questions from the chat: https://youtu.be/v8YbbzEPuiI

Next up, we’re working on the Kickstarter for They Came From Beneath the Sea! (TCFBtS!), which has some very different additions to the Storypath mechanics we’ll be explaining during the KS. They take an excellent 50’s action and investigation genre game and turn it to 11! Our current plan is to start on Dec 18th but run it extra long into January!

ELECTRONIC GAMING:

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is both rolling and rocking!

Here are the links for the Apple and Android versions:

http://theappstore.site/app/1296692067/onyx-dice

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onyxpathpublishing.onyxdice&hl=en

Three different screenshots, above.

And our latest, the dice for Werewolf: The Forsaken 2e:

ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue you bought it from. Reviews really, really help us with getting folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these fiction books:

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Endless Ages Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Rites of Renown: When Will You Rage II (Kindle, Nook)

Mage: The Ascension: Truth Beyond Paradox (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: The God-Machine Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Mummy: The Curse: Curse of the Blue Nile (Kindle, Nook)

Beast: The Primordial: The Primordial Feast Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Masquerade: Of Predators and Prey: The Hunters Hunted II Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: The Poison Tree (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Songs of the Sun and Moon: Tales of the Changing Breeds (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Requiem: The Strix Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Forsaken: The Idigam Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Mage: The Awakening: The Fallen World Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Beast Within Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: W20 Cookbook (Kindle, Nook)

Exalted: Tales from the Age of Sorrows (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: Tales of the Dark Eras (Kindle, Nook)

Promethean: The Created: The Firestorm Chronicle Anthology (Kindle, Nook)

Demon: The Descent: Demon: Interface (Kindle, Nook)

Scarred Lands: Death in the Walled Warren (Kindle, Nook)

V20 Dark Ages: Cainite Conspiracies (Kindle, Nook)

Chronicles of Darkness: Strangeness in the Proportion (Kindle, Nook)

Vampire: The Requiem: Silent Knife (Kindle, Nook)

Mummy: The Curse: Dawn of Heresies (Kindle, Nook)

OUR SALES PARTNERS:

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the Screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there!

https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

And we’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

Here’s the link to the press release we put out about how Onyx Path is now selling through Indie Press Revolution: http://theonyxpath.com/press-release-onyx-path-limited-editions-now-available-through-indie-press-revolution/

And you can now order Pugmire: the book, the screen, and the dice! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=296

DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

This Wednesday is a cornucopia of delicious choices!

Featuring: electronic wallpapers previously only available to Kickstarter backers for Changeling: The Dreaming 20th, W20 Shattered Dreams, V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary, Pugmire, Dark Eras, and Prince’s Gambit on DTRPG!

Followed up by Monarchies of Mau symbol t-shirts on our Red Bubble store, as a lead-in to next week and the release of Mau in PDF and PoD versions to the public!

CONVENTIONS!

Rich, Lisa, Matt, Eddy, Dixie, Danielle, and other Onyx Path writers and developers will be at PAX Unplugged in Philly, November 30th – December 2nd running demos of Scion, Monarchies of Mau, Exalted, and more! http://unplugged.paxsite.com/

Start getting ready for our appearance at MidWinter this January in Milwaukee! So many demos, playtests, secret playtests, and Onyx Path Q&As you could plotz!

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM FAST EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

C20 Novel (Jackie Cassada) (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Scion Ready Made Characters (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion Jumpstart (Scion 2nd Edition)

Geist2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Memento Mori: the GtSE 2e Companion (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Distant Worlds (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Redlines

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Witch-Queen of the Shadowed Citadel (Cavaliers of Mars)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Second Draft

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Development

Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Night Horrors: Shunned by the Moon (Werewolf: The Forsaken 2nd Edition)

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

CofD Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)

Manuscript Approval:

V5 Chicago By Night (Vampire: The Masquerade)

Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

Wr20 Book of Oblivion (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Editing:

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Aeon Aexpansion (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

C20 Players’ Guide (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Dystopia Rising: Evolution (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Adventures for Curious Cats (Monarchies of Mau)

In Media Res (Trinity Continuum: Core)

Tales of Excellent Cats (Monarchies of Mau)

Post-Editing Development:

Ex Novel 2 (Aaron Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Indexing:

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Dystopia Rising: Evolution – Sketches coming in, and they look good.

Geist 2e

The Realm – Fulls contracted. Talking to Gong and Gunship about availability during holidays.

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Chicago By Night – KS moving along.

C20 Player’s Guide – Contracted.

Aeon Aexpansion

They Came From Beneath the Sea! – Getting more KS art since we have a little time, gonna start on KS assets.

Lost 2e Jumpstart – Art contracted – sketches trickling in.

EX3 Lunars – KS art contracted.

Signs of Sorcery – Contracted – sketches trickling in.

Marketing Stuff

In Layout

M20: Gods and Monsters – With Josh, progressing.

Pugmire Roll of Good Dogs and Cats

Proofing

Scion Hero – Pre XX errata fixes.

Scion Origin – Corrections are in.

Ex3 Dragon Blooded

CtL2 Jumpstart – Awaiting more corrections.

Trinity Core

Trinity Aeon

At Press

Monarchies of Mau and Screen – And dice and buttons, all shipped to backers. Waiting for PoD proofs.

Wraith 20th – Fixing some issues with the front cover emboss. Everything else good to go though.

Wraith 20 Screen – Printing.

Scion Dice – At Studio2.

Lost 2e Screen – Printing.

Scion Screen – Printing.

Changeling: The Lost 2e – Printing.

Fetch Quest – Proof coming this week.

Exalted 3rd Novel – Out to backers, getting errata.

VtR Guide to the Night – Inputting errata and prepping for PoD.

PtC Tormented – I think we hit errata shutdown on Wednesday.

TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE:

Thanksgiving! Not necessarily the “school” holiday of pilgrims and first winters and all that, but the holiday of togetherness and actually looking at how things are in your life and being glad (thankful) for the good parts and the parts that you learned from. And MST3K new season dropping on Turkey Day!

#Onyx Path Publishing

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fayewonglibrary · 4 years

Text

Hong Kong stars steal show (1999)

by special correspondent Monty DiPietro

* excerpts *

Chinese box-office hit elevates Hong Kong’s cultural image

Perhaps, it should not have been a surprise at all. For years, Japanese have shown a keen interest in Asian languages as, in many ways, the image Japanese had of the rest of Asia continued its ever-quickening evolution - from boring to exotic and from backward to chic. Japan had begun to really look at its neighbours and liked what it saw. If enlightenment has an adversary it is the stereotype. For a long time, Hong Kong was regarded as little more than a cheap place to buy nice things.

Culturally, Hong Kong was widely considered a producer of low-budget kung fu films. But such impressions are now like old story lines, rejected and forgotten. It is difficult to determine exactly when or why the old stereotype died out.

The movie, Chungking Express, certainly helped elevate Hong Kong to the new cultural level of respect that it now enjoys in Japan. With its 1996 release under the Japanese title, Koi Suru Wakusei, or World in Love, the Wong Kar Wai film put a new face on Hong Kong pop culture. These days the film’s singer-actress Faye Wong is on the Japanese hit parade and plays sold-out concerts at the prestigious Budokan.

Tokyo film distribution company Prenom H is so confident of Wong Kar Wai’s appeal in the Japanese market that it pre-bought his most recent release, Happy Together. Retitled Buenos Aires in Japan, this gay love story set in Argentina was a massive silver-screen and video hit.

Meanwhile, the enthusiasm has enveloped other Hong Kong cultural exports. Fruit Chan’s Made in Hong Kong is one of this year’s most anticipated film releases.

In May, Japan’s biggest listings magazine, Pia, ran a seven-page spread that featured photos and biographies of the likes of Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung, Jordan Chan and 11 other new-generation Asian superstars. As far as the youth-driven Japanese consumer market is concerned, Hong Kong has definitely been discovered, and it is very cool. Japan is a country where trends catch on fast, and right now at least, it appears that anything Hong Kong creates a stir. The only losers in the game are those players who have not kept up with the changes in consumer preferences.

“Kung fu movies are basically dead in Japan, ” says film critic Sozo Teruoka. “Nowadays, kung fu movie fans make up a very small section of the market. Instead of patronising a cinema, they prefer to watch a kung fu video.”

Local characters on silver screen attract movie-goers

Even as interest in serious Hong Kong cinema is growing in the Japanese market, there remain some actors so popular as to be exempt from trends. The premier example is Hong Kong’s best-known cultural export - martial arts master, stuntman extraordinaire, and just-plain-loveable Jackie Chan. All of Jackie Chan’s releases are well received in Japan. There is a full-colour magazine to keep more than 3,000 dedicated Japanese members of his international fan club informed of the superstar’s activities. Fans are already awaiting Chan’s new film, Gorgeous, with great anticipation. One reason is that Tony Leung, the handsome star of Happy Together is appearing together with Chan. Although Chan is far and away the bigger draw, there will be more than a few young people buying tickets to see Leung, who is incredibly popular with Japanese audiences. His inclusion in the cast of Gorgeous ensures that the film will have the widest possible appeal in Japan.

A lesson learned from African-American actor Chris Tucker’s welcome appearance in Chan’s Rush Hour, which grossed more than US$100 million at the box office, is that a little local colour can go a long way towards attracting audiences to a new movie. Japanese actresses Takako Tokiwa and Hikari Ishida are co-starring in new Hong Kong films, and their roles will certainly increase interest among Japanese movie-goers.

Another Hong Kong artiste whose popularity in Japan is skyrocketing is Faye Wong. Like Leung, Wong also got much of her initial Japanese exposure from the film Chungking Express. Toshiba EMI reports sales of more than 100,000 units for the Beijing-born singer’s new album, Chang You, which features the hit, Eyes on Me.“ As far as Tokyo radio station J-Wave can recall, Wong is the only Canto-pop singer to have made it onto its playlist. And like her contemporaries in Hong Kong cinema, she owes much of her popularity to a mature, sophisticated image. "I was attending the launch of a record company’s new album a while back, and after this J-Pop girl did her thing, Faye Wong was brought into the room,” recalls Billboard magazine’s Tokyo bureau chief Steve McClure. “She didn’t smile insipidly like all the other female idol-types do. She had real charisma. And that is what makes Faye Wong different and interesting.” Not to mention a great voice and a beautiful face.

Wong got a big break early this year when she was chosen to sing the theme song for Final Fantasy VIII, the latest release in a series that is one of Japan’s most popular role-playing video games. Naturally, the game was hyped on Japanese television, and Faye Wong became a familiar face. A promotional tie-in that places an artiste’s material in a TV commercial results in nation-wide exposure. This is one of the best ways to establish a musical act in Japan.

Foreign chains import CDs to cater to urban customers The Eyes on Me single also benefited from cross-marketing - it was sold in computer game stores as well as record shops. EMI Hong Kong should be doing rather nicely selling copies of Chang You in Japan, but it is not. The reason?

Eyes on Me appears on the made-in-Japan version of the album but not on the Hong Kong import.

The Japanese CD market is uniquely Japanese. There is a funny little thing called the Retail Price Maintenance System that covers sound recordings, books, and newspapers. It enjoys a special exemption from the government’s anti-monopoly act, and ensures that a Japanese-made CD priced at 3,059 (HK$190) in Hokkaido will also sell for the same price in Tokyo and everywhere else in the country.

However, when a Japanese record label licenses a product from an overseas company, it cannot buy exclusive Japanese distribution rights and block all imports because that would violate international trade agreements. So, most Japanese record companies have established divisions to handle parallel importing. Imported CDs are not affected by the retail price-fixing system; they can be sold for at least 30% less than the price tag of a Japanese release. One might guess that the moment imported CDs hit the stores, customers would scoop them up and leave the pricey Japanese versions sitting in the racks. Wrong!

“Japanese like to have things explained to them,” says Toshiba EMI’s Hiroto Hizume, “but imported CDs do not include Japanese-language liner notes or translations of the lyrics.” Another reason Japanese pay a premium for locally-manufactured CDs is that most of Japan’s 7,000 CD shops do not bother to give their customers any choice - they simply do not stock imported versions. In recent years, foreign chains such as Tower Records and Virgin Megastore have broken the protectionist compact by offering imports in major urban centres.

Songs in English appeal to large Japanese following

The Japanese Retail Price Maintenance System is currently being phased out, and should be gone, officially at least, by 2002. But the fact that a domestic CD manufacturing industry survived for so long even when the prices of imports were lower underscores the difficulties foreign companies often have in penetrating the Japanese market. Kelly Chen and Shirley Kwan do not benefit from commercial tie-ins that put their music all over Japanese television and radio. Instead, their CDs languish in the “World” music sections of those stores that do carry imports. And despite the steadily increasing interest in Asian pop culture, the general international section of a CD shop is still the first stop for Japanese music fans searching for new releases from overseas. The only CDs that are placed in the general international section are those which feature English numbers. Hong Kong pop releases share shelf space with Turkish folk songs in the “World” section.

Although she has the voice of an angel, Faye Wong had to render English-language songs before her Japanese fans would listen. Toshiba’s Hizume explains that Japanese consumers are simply more accustomed to hearing English than Cantonese. Wong is expected to record another English track for her next album, which Toshiba EMI says is due out sometime later this year.

An approach that has helped several Asian artistes make their foray into Japan is to sing in Japanese. Maybe, the time has come for another Teresa Teng, the late Taiwanese singer who charmed her way into Japanese hearts during the 1970s. Radio, cable and satellite music video programmes are another avenue for foreign singers and bands to get exposure in Japan, but there is a Catch-22. Artistes will not get on radio or TV unless they are popular, and cannot become popular until they get on radio or TV. Booking a promotional tour is an expensive option unless a record company is underwriting the act. This only happens if it has a fan base and when its product is available in stores. By comparison, bringing a film to Japan is fairly straightforward. Like almost everyone in the industry, Cine City Hong Kong’s Yuko Yoshinaga says producers should approach the film festivals first. Established in 1991, Cine City Hong Kong is located in an airy, two-storey building in Tokyo’s very fashionable Aoyama district. Along with a wide selection of movie books and posters, the company also sells video tapes, DVDs and other cinema-related products. Cine City Hong Kong is affiliated with Prenom H, the distribution company that funded the Japanese rights to Wong Kar Wai’s Happy Together. Yoshinaga says major Japanese film festivals, most of which are held annually, are invaluable vehicles for introducing new Hong Kong films and establishing contacts with the dozens of distribution companies that can put a movie in cinemas, video shops or on television.

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SOURCE: THE JAPAN TIMES

#1999

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rockandblognet · 5 years

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Interview with “DEBAUCHERY”

Check out this interview with Debauchery where we talked about their musical influences, masks, style and many other interesting things

RnB – You are an unclassifiable band, in the good sense of the word, when interpreting Death, Thrash or even Industrial Metal. An infinity of genres that make your music interesting. Where does inspiration come from, for rhythms, how for lyrics?

Hi, I always wanted to play music like AC/DC, Judas Priest, Maiden, Motörhead, Saxon & other classic metal and rock bands. And that’s what I do, only my DEBAUCHERY monster voice is different. I mean if you listen to Priest and compare their Jugulator album with British Steel, it sounds different but it is still Heavy Metal.

The lyrics are about dark fantasy and monsters. In the beginning most were themed around the Warhammer world, 40k or Middle-Earth. Now most songs are set in the DEBAUCHERY universe, a dark and evil place with demons and dragons I made up myself.

RnB – When occupying masks in your performances, is it difficult to act (sing, breathe)? Have the masks had some evolution in their form?

Yes, inside it’s hotter than hell and you don’t see a shit. The most difficult thing is to play guitar almost blind. But I love the look of the band this way. I have different masks, some are too heavy for live shows. So you will see different one in the videos. I prefer custom made exclusive masks but I have also bought some from horror shops.

RnB – Does the use of being three musicians make it easier or more difficult to perform your music in both studied and live? Adding to this the rest of the instruments that are heard, second guitars or keyboards included in some songs

The live musicians are not always the studio musicians. I work with a group of different great people, for example bass on the album is played by Dennis Ward, he’s the sound engineer and in the studio anyway and he is a great bass player – you may know him from Unisonic or GusG.

The guy who is playing live bass and on some shows live drums on the current tour, played drums on the Rockers & War, Continue To Kill and Germany’s next Death Metal album.

I have a three piece Rock Band on stage because I do not know another guitar player who wants to go on tour and the songs are written on one guitar anyway. I have tried everything in the past, with five people on stage and me as singer, because my favourite bands are doing it like this. When I started with the music I saw myself as a rhythm guitar player. But in the end I never found a singer, and no second guitar player who wanted to play for longer than a tour or something.

It is more difficult for me to play with one guitar and sing at the same time, but I prefer it this way now. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made for the band. It’s so much easier to organize and it works for my music.

RnB – Is there a limit on the theme «Gore,» referring to excess blood in your presentations for DEBAUCHERY?

It’s only a little bit of makeup, so you will not see it on the audience. In the lyrics there can never be enough brutality. The Blood Gods are cruel beings and are out for revenge.

RnB – DEBAUCHERY is a band capable of innovating, having a good idea or getting an effective trick from there that could become part of the Shock Rock concept of some world bands?

I don’t know, I just do what I like myself and what I would buy and would like to see at a concert. There is no masterplan.

RnB – Does the fact of creating a controversial concept and give something extra-musical and provocative to the musical show, allows trying to give a sign of identity to the group and differentiates it from other groups?

Yes I think so. Imagine the band without the visuals. The first thing someone sees from a band is most often a cover or a band picture, you see the image before you will listen to the music. The image of a band is the teaser for the music. And on festivals with many bands in the line up it is easier to remember us.

RnB – Is the good provocative marketing campaign you give, close to a type of «geek» the mainstays with which DEBAUCHERY plays in your work?

I’m not sure if my marketing campaign is good, haha, I am just myself and I was always something like a geek or nerd or whatever. I mean I play tabletop games like Warhammer since forever. I love the monsters and the fantasy stories. And I make songs about these creatures and stories.

RnB – The morbidity continues to attract, as always, the human being because it has a «natural disposition» towards the horrendous and justifies it in that, throughout the centuries, people have always enjoyed executions. Do you share this idea?

Yes maybe. Most of the great stories are violent in some way and many people are definitely attracted to displays of violence and cruelty. But it is good that in my society this is mainly articulated in computer games, films and music. I think most people prefer a normal life and want to see violence only in the cinema. My music should be an escape from normal life. If you listen to DEBAUCHERY metal you can enter the World of Blood Gods, but you are always free to go back to your normal life afterwards.

RnB – Your manager and record companies, MASSACRE RECORDS, are more than knowledgeable about everything they do and amplify your effort. Create an inscription or poster for word of mouth, magazines and media to talk about you, plus all possible support. Is that the case?

The label is definitely doing its part. They are responsible to get the CDs into the record stores.

RnB – How do they direct or direct the reactions against your «artistic model» by organizations that are morally and socially called «correct»?

There are no reactions from any organizations.

RnB – How far can the productive and inventive ribbon of DEBAUCHERY be raised?

I don’t know, so long as I have enough energy to make something new I will continue. I’m working on a new DEBAUCHERY and a new BALGEROTH album at the moment. I would like to make the visuals in the music videos cooler next time. Better animations and monsters but we will see, I’ m working on it.

RnB – Is there influence on literary or philosophical sources, historical facts or news events that accommodate your music?

I have studied history and philosophy, so a little bit will influence my lyrics, but most of the time it is just about monsters and violence. I would recommend the Warhammer books of Graham McNeill, Dan Abnett, Ben Counter, Aaron Demski-Bowden and others; also all the stuff of Tolkien.

RnB – CAN DEBAUCHERY be framed or labeled as rebels of your time or as a band that rose against the established power of its time?

No, I’m no rebel and the music has no political aspect, except perhaps the animal liberation. The most brutal beasts in the DEBAUCHERY universe are the gods of the farm animals and they hate mankind and our society.

RnB – Could they succeed without the paraphernalia of your spectacles, yes or no? At the same time they are an essential claim that may be able to cover many musical deficiencies of your music created in studio but that has another aspect in the concert.

Yes maybe, I played without all the gimmicks in the past, no masks, no blood, no stage monsters, not even a backdrop. In the end the long time success of a band depends on the music.

RnB – A question or demand that arises: is the DEBAUCHERY show that makes us like his music or is it the music that makes us like all his paraphernalia and his show, is it a complex question?

I have no idea. Sometimes I think my image is too brutal and violent for my kind of music. I play many hard rock songs and AC/DC style riffs.

RnB – The laws have been adapting to new trends and what was once a reason for imprisonment, today it is not. Have you had a problem with the law of your country or that of others because of your artistic proposal?

Yes sometimes, for example I had to pay a penalty for a lesbian porn video I have made for the song Death Metal Warmachine.

Reaching the goal is fine, but the really enriching has been a long journey and the many problems overcome throughout this. So you subsist and breathe DEBAUCHERY?

Art is my life. I’m an artist the whole day, every day. I don’t know what I would do without playing guitar and painting monsters.

RnB: Thank you very much for spending some time with us.

Thanks a lot for your interest in my music.

By Pepe Cortez

Interview with “DEBAUCHERY” en el artículo original de Rock and Blog

#Debauchery #Interviews #rock music #heavy metal #rock

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hellosaltysaladcollectionstuff · 5 years

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MARY ANN NEWMAN STILL LIVES in the same apartment she was born and raised in. That apartment happens to be in Chelsea in New York City, and it also happens to be part of the reason she fell in love with Catalan and Spanish literature.

The neighborhood she grew up in wasn’t the glamorous, prohibitive destination it has become, but rather a working-class neighborhood where she heard and saw Spanish on the streets as often as English. She later became enamored of Spanish literature and went on to discover Catalan culture and history. She has since devoted her life to being an ambassador of Catalan literature and has been justly rewarded for it. A celebrated translator, editor, and cultural critic, she is the director of the Farragut Fund for Catalan Culture in the US.

I first encountered Mary Ann Newman’s work when I read her translation of Quim Monzó’s novel Gasoline (Monzó is the previous interlocutor in this series of conversations on Catalan literature). My husband, Leonardo Francalanci, a Catalan scholar, had just taught her translation of Josep Maria de Sagarra’s Private Life, an epic chronicle of life in Barcelona before the Spanish Civil War. She has also translated a short story collection by Quim Monzó, essays by Xavier Rubert de Ventós, and a collection of poems by Josep Carner. In this interview, we talk about translation as an embodied practice, her journey from New York City to Barcelona, the contemporary Catalan crisis, and the evolution of her love affair with Catalan literature over the years.

AZAREEN VAN DER VLIET OLOOMI: When did you first travel to Catalonia and become aware of it as a region with a cultural identity that is distinct from the rest of Spain?

MARY ANN NEWMAN: I went to Spain in 1972, at 20, for a junior semester abroad. I knew there was such a thing as Catalonia, and Galicia, and the Basque Country. There had been Galician children in my grammar school in New York in the ’50s. West 14th Street was still known then as Little Spain, and I lived on West 16th Street. One day in high school, as other students were being drilled in conjugations, I started leafing through the Spanish culture text we never cracked, and read that there were four languages in Spain — Spanish, Catalan, Basque, and Galician. I remember perfectly the hand-drawn map of the Iberian Peninsula with the regions outlined.

These little bits of information — the Galician classmates, the map — are like iron filings: when you finally encounter the magnet of the culture, they jump into shape and become meaningful. They allow you to be attentive to difference.

During my semester in Madrid, I took a train to Barcelona. It was love at first sight, with the landscape, with the architecture, with the quality of the light and the sky. And with the sound of the language. I felt the difference right away. It was easy to make the leap from there to the distinct cultural identity.

I tend to think of acquiring a second or third language as entering into a love affair: the process is enigmatic, visceral, and powerful enough to shift our sense of identity. Can you describe your love affair with Catalan? When did you start learning Catalan, and why? How is it different from your relationship to Spanish?

I think it’s contiguous with my relationship to Spanish. One’s reaction to cultures, cities, landscapes, and languages is, or can be, as intense and visceral as it is to people and lovers.

My love affair began with Spanish. I love the Spanish language, its immense variety, all the cultures that fall under the rubric of “Hispanic,” even the conflicted history of its relationship with the languages it has suppressed. I grew up in a very bilingual environment — at the grammar school I mentioned before, St. Francis Xavier, a large proportion of the children were of Latino origin, mostly Puerto Rican. My neighborhood was full of stores with “Spanish” products — “Spanish” covered everything in those days. My first childhood encounter with a foreign country was Cuba, where I learned my first words in Spanish, tasted my first rice and beans, and absorbed some sort of deep-seated familiarity, a sort of subcutaneous recognition, with Hispanic culture. Later, as an adult, Spanish allowed me to take a distance from monolingual American culture, to see the United States from another, often disapproving or denunciatory perspective. I moved from this general love of Hispanic culture to the specific enchantment with Catalan culture, which, in turn, gave me perspective on Spanish. They are not entirely at odds. For most Americans, Spanish (in the broad sense my neighborhood applied) is the gateway to Catalan.

This was very organic and informal. I started learning Catalan in 1976, in Madrid. I was completely smitten with the culture. I had developed wonderful Catalan friendships in New York, with people who loved to talk about their hometowns (Barcelona, but also Valls, Tarragona…). I attended two classes in Madrid, the only two classes I ever took, at the Círculo Catalán. My classmates were all young madrileños, political progressives who loved Lluís Llach or Raimon, who expressed their solidarity with the Catalan people by learning the language.

In 1977, I moved to Barcelona and started speaking Catalan with everyone who would put up with me. Back in New York, in 1978, I bought Alan Yates’s Teach Yourself Catalan — I still highly recommend it — and did just that. I got a group of friends together, I would study up a chapter and teach it to them. It worked. I learned the grammar. But the passion for the language was already deep, and everything I had learned by living in Catalonia only reinforced it: the markets, the architecture, the politics — 1977 was the year of legalizations, the year of the Anarchist Days, the first LGBT demonstration, the first mega-demonstration in favor of the Statute of Autonomy and the release of Catalan political prisoners. It was the perfect year for a young American progressive to be initiated into Catalonia. Above all, I started reading: Salvador Espriu, Mercè Rodoreda, Biel Mesquida. If you know another Romance language well, you can read before you can talk, and when you start talking, all that reading — the words, the sentence structures — is at your disposal.

What was the first book you read in translation? And the first book you translated?

It was probably Grimm’s Fairy Tales. I loved them and read them over and over. I remember loving Babar the Elephant. My first grown-up reading was an immense collection of stories by Guy de Maupassant. Of course, this is all in retrospect. I had no idea I was reading translations — they were just books I loved. In high school, I discovered The Stranger and The Trial (which I loved) and Steppenwolf (which I hated), and all the books that thrill an inquiring teenager. And in freshman year of college, One Hundred Years of Solitude (I borrowed it from a lending library in a tobacconist on 8th Street for 25 cents) was what convinced me to major in Latin American literature. It was a lightning bolt.

The first book I translated was O’Clock, by Quim Monzó.

What do you think the art of translation has in common with the art of listening? Do you consider the process of conducting a translation to be an embodied experience?

It is for me. But so is reading itself. And translation is the most radical form of reading, the most deep-rooted.

When you read, you can sort of slide by things that are opaque. When you translate, you can’t slip by, you have to dig down to understand them, and it involves all the senses: What is this character seeing, smelling, feeling (both touch and emotion), hearing? What were people wearing?

This is the empiricism of translation: it entails a trial and error, a continuous editing and rereading. All of which is very physical; it cycles back and forth between rationality and instinct. Many language devices are unconscious or even pre-conscious; unremembered things, words, concepts rise to the surface when they are called up by the translation. It has a psychoanalytic quality.

How does your relationship to the translation change depending on whether you are working with a living or dead author?

I think it doesn’t. My relationship is with the text, and with the author insofar as he or she inhabits the text. It’s wonderful to be able to consult with the author, and my two living authors, Quim Monzó and Xavier Rubert de Ventós, were always very helpful, but in the end, it’s my job, and my book. You can only hope the author approves.

How did you happen to start translating Quim Monzó?

I was living in Barcelona in 1980 on a Fulbright, and reading everything I could. Quim’s books were breaking all the molds in Catalan literature, and in world literature. I met Monzó there, but, even more fortunately, it turned out that he was going to spend the following year in New York. In New York, I proposed a translation, he agreed, I put together a dossier with three stories, bio, et cetera, sent them to an agent, who loved them, who sent them to a publisher, who loved them … It was deceptively simple.

What is the most enjoyable part of translating Monzó, and what is the most challenging?

As often happens, the most enjoyable and the most challenging come together. Quim’s writing is very approachable, very readable, so the quality of his art can be imperceptible. Through translation, it becomes evident. His writing is spare and dense. His sentences are reduced to the absolute minimum, but packed with meaning. There is no extraneous matter. To render this in English should seem like a no-brainer, but English is dense and spare in a different way from Catalan, and they don’t always overlap. It’s a challenge, but it’s also great fun to crack the code.

How was translating Josep Maria de Sagarra’s Private Life different from your other translations? Did you have to do historical research?

It’s useful to compare it to Monzó. Sagarra is the grand pre–Civil War chronicler of Barcelona. He set out intentionally to write the great Catalan novel, to hold Stendhal’s mirror up to the life of the city. And he wrote this broad, florid, marvelous tapestry, with billowing sentences and a plethora of adjectives and adverbs. It was a blast to translate.

I had some knowledge of the period, so the research was more of a deep dig: sometimes it seemed as if he were using a photograph to evoke a scene, and in a number of cases I actually found the photograph in question. There were a few mystifying passages and references that I was able to track down and, in one case, flesh out — a bit of creative editing that might be considered controversial. It was interesting: after my first draft, I read the Spanish translation. I was sure it would resolve my doubts. But the apparent closeness of Spanish to Catalan allowed Manuel Vázquez Montalbán and José Agustín Goytisolo to translate obscure passages literally, which I couldn’t do in English. Still, the detective work was a lot of fun. So, the interesting thing about going from Monzó to Sagarra, is that Sagarra is splendidly sweeping and baroque, and Monzó is perfectly minimalist and spare, but they share a sensibility, a willingness not to prettify the subjects they portray. It feels like a Catalan sensibility, certainly a Barcelonan sensibility.

How has your work as a cultural administrator and translator changed since the Catalan referendum?

It hasn’t affected me, professionally, but it has affected the people I deal with.

Personally, and professionally, it is distressing to perceive the normalization of a kind of pessimism. Life goes on, everyone does his job, Catalonia prospers, but there is a cloud hanging over people’s heads, and a subtle brake on thinking long-term. Having political prisoners, living in a state of antagonism with a government that is supposed to serve you — in the case of Catalonia, the Spanish government — creates a kind of suspension, an unreal quality. It is not unlike living in Trump’s America. It will take a while to have the distance to understand this moment.

How would you describe the attitude American publishers have toward Catalan literature?

Truth be told, publishers are receptive to Catalan literature. They know it is of great quality, they are even more interested now that Catalonia is a trending topic, and they know there is funding, which is an extraordinary help, especially for small publishers. Some publishers have made a real commitment to Catalan literature — Open Letter, Archipelago, Dalkey Archive, for example — and I know others are looking for the next great thing.

What could we be doing better to support Catalan literature and culture?

I think there is a problem with the haphazardness of translations, in what gets translated when, and who connects the dots for the readers.

For example, there is a considerable body of 20th-century Catalan works available now, but as there isn’t an apparatus to relate one book to another, the corpus is invisible. New books appear in isolation, and reviewers, even publishers, often don’t have the information to establish links among the Catalan books or, even more distressingly, between the Catalan books and comparable texts from other literary traditions.

What can we do? Perhaps consider writing articles that would connect those dots and define the canon. By the way, I don’t think this problem is limited to Catalan literature: any less familiar literary tradition faces a similar challenge.

Is there a Catalan writer whose works you would like to translate but don’t because of a perceived lack of interest from publishers?

There are numerous writers whose work I would like to translate. I have a certain confidence, which I hope is not misplaced, that if I presented a project, particularly with the financial backing of the Institut Ramon Llull — which underlies a great deal of the success in bringing Catalan literature to English — it would find a good home. The problem is less with the publishers than with the time I dispose of.

What is your process when conducting a translation?

It really depends on the book, but I tend to do a quick and dirty first draft, making lots of notes and setting down options, and writing queries, and then going back and editing it to death. Four or five readings, and constant revision. It is a luxurious method, in the sense of the luxury of time; as you know, my translations are few and far between.

Do you think of literary translations as a form of self-translation? Do you think of it as a journey? How does translation change or influence your relationship to time and space?

I don’t, really. It is an extraordinary creative process, and I think I have referred to the psychoanalytic quality, the reflective quality, but it also has an artisanal aspect that keeps it real.

It is definitely a form of writing, and a creative vehicle, but it is not like writing from scratch, and there is always the source text between you and yourself.

Who are some of your favorite Catalan authors, and why?

Mercè Rodoreda, beyond any doubt. One of the great 20th-century world writers.

Like Sagarra and Monzó, she is merciless in her portrayals, and yet you also see, with empathy (yours, not hers), how her characters are buffeted by their circumstances and by the trends of history. I love her combination of real, surreal, and hyperreal. J. V. Foix, the poet, is the epitome of surrealism anchored in everyday reality, on a parallel in poetry with Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí in the visual. I love Ausiàs March, the Valencian Renaissance poet, and Tirant lo Blanc, by Joanot Martorell, still gorgeous and eminently readable in David Rosenthal’s translation. And Joan Maragall, the marvelous turn-of-the-century poet who could be a historian, a romantic, or a mystic, by turns.

And, oh my God, do I love Eugeni d’Ors, the “household philosopher” who educated a whole generation of readers (1906–1920-ish) from his daily newspaper column. Joan Fuster, the Valencian essayist, is a dazzling skeptic. I recently learned about Cèlia Suñol i Pla, an elegant midcentury novelist who had been lost and is being relaunched. I would love to translate her. And Marta Rojals, a brilliant chronicler of Generation X. And, finally, in the most chaotic order (I am not following my mandate of making the canon visible), I love love love Francesc Trabal. I encourage people to read his novel, Waltz, translated by Martha Tennent. Oh, wait, and Pere Calders, a mordant and deadpan short story writer (Mara Faye Lethem is working on him, and I look forward to that!). I have to stop.

What are your duties as the chair of the Pen American Translation Committee?

The PEN America Translation Committee advocates for translators within the scope of PEN, in every way PEN advocates for writers. We are concerned with every aspect of translators as writers: their legal and financial status — we are working on establishing contract guidelines with both the Authors’ Guild and a pro bono legal team, their status in publishing and in the hierarchy of writing. We bring to the fore the fact that literary and cultural transmission depends to a great extent on translators and translations, and we press for this to be recognized both in prestige and, concomitantly, in remuneration.

Are you currently working on a translation?

I am recreationally translating Oceanography of Tedium by Eugeni d’Ors. Since it is a little allegorical jewel, whose structure is dictated by its origin as daily newspaper articles, I can go about it in between other things. I haven’t tried to sell it or place it; I’m just doing it for the pleasure of it.

Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi is the author of Call Me Zebra.

The post The Catalan Paradox, Part II: Conversation with Translator Mary Ann Newman appeared first on Los Angeles Review of Books.

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how2to18 · 5 years